Witnessing, testimony and ethics: the theatre of debbie tucker green [sic]

Abstract

Contemporary Britain is experiencing a growing interconnectedness with the rest of the world. In the era of globalisation, societies seem to be much closer, for everything that happens in a specific place, almost inevitably, has some kind of effect on the rest of the world. The economic markets have expanded, nation states have become less important and political decisions are increasingly taken internationally, and cultures are much more intertwined. Moreover, the mass media has brought the every day occurrences closer and people learn about the horrors that other people experience almost instantly. Nevertheless, far from creating any sense of empathy or care for the "other" who suffers, the constant bombarding of news about crime and abuse seem to have desensitised contemporary Britain, and the Western world at large. The growing preoccupation with the lack of empathy and solidarity towards the "other" has become the subject matter of many philosophers such as Zygmunt Bauman or Shoshana Felman and Dori Laub, who have examined globalisation and have contemplated ways of awakening the somehow "relaxed" societies, who usually detach themselves from the problems of the "other" so as not to get morally involved. This Master's dissertation aims at examining the ways in which theatre makes a reactivation of the ethics of care possible through the face-to-face encounter "here and now" with the other that theatre enables. Through the process of actively gazing at and listening to the other, the spectator can elaborate a critical response to the actor/character's testimony. To do so, I shall analyse two of debbie tucker green's plays "dirty butterfly" (2003) and "random" (2008), which deal with two specific types of violence, domestic violence and street crime, respectively, which problematise contemporary Britain. Her intense plays act up as powerful testimonies of silenced groups whose suffering need to be articulated and be listened to. Furthermore, her use of urban, poetical, fragmented, and even ungrammatical language puts at the forefront stories which are usually uncomfortable to listen to in order to deliver an ethical message of care for the other.